I'm trying to make copyright information for a book I plan to write... Help!

[Tsuken Yasashi]

As the title says, I need to write the copyright out and contact information before I start with the process of writing the book.  Since this is my first time, I'm not sure what to do in this step.  Right now, I have been looking at the wiki page for help on doing so, but it seems like I need more information about it, specifically ZUN's contact info.  Can anyone lend a helping hand to me on doing this process?

Website I'm using for guidance - http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Touhou_Wiki:Copyrights

[james7132]

IANAL, but from what I know,  it partially depends on where you live.

"The 1886 Berne Convention first established recognition of copyrights among sovereign nations, rather than merely bilaterally. Under the Berne Convention, copyrights for creative works do not have to be asserted or declared, as they are automatically in force at creation: an author need not "register" or "apply for" a copyright in countries adhering to the Berne Convention."

As for what countries are a part of that: Belgium, France, Germany, Haiti, Italy, Liberia, Spain, Switzerland, Tunisia, and the United Kingdom initially signed it. The US also adheres to it. Finally most World Trade Organization countries adhere to most of the clauses of the convention.

Simply add "Copyright (c) <NAME> <YEAR>" to your work in a noticeable location and it's automatically copyrighted under your name for the next ~70 (depends on country of origin) years or so.

If you want to make it copyleft, or permissive, I would look into Creative Commons licensing and Public Domain works respectively.

(Now if you are talking about code, there's a completely different set of licenses to use).

[Iced Fairy]

That looks like the correct information.  Which means if you're making a book (unless you mean comic book) you're going to need to contact ZUN for permission, since that's far beyond standard doujin work / release areas.

However, unless you've written the work already there's nothing you should do copyright wise.  I'm not sure if you can copywrite works that don't exist, but it's a foolish thing to do.  Finish writing the novel, THEN futz around with the legal bits.  In addition unless your selling the book (and it'll be self published so there's that to consider), copyright is again a waste of your time.

[Tsuken Yasashi]

Its more like a light novel, but a derivative work that is a novel, nonetheless, that I plan to write.  I have the story structure and outline ready for the journey of novel writing, but have not began actual writing because I gotta secure a full-time job on my side before beginning the book.  Also, I plan to distribute/sell it in Anime Conventions only, since I want to be safe with it.  None of that commercial selling, I plan to do, in order to avoid and respect ZUN's policy on creative commons.  I was just confused when he mentioned about adding his contact info in the colophon.

Thanks for helping me with the legal stuff.  I gotta watch out for that, since this is my first time doing so.